[BayStateRef]

For the lawyers and wanna be lawyers on this forum: Can you point me to a specific legal case where an official has been held liable or sued for negligence because he allowed a girl to play while wearing earrings and someone was injured and blamed the official?

I have been told, clearly and unequivacoally, not to allow girls (and boys) to play while wearing earrings, even if they put tape over the earrings. It has always been an easy call for me -- until this weekend.

Girls varsity level ...end of summer tournament hosted by a local college. The tournament director is the college basketball coach. I am U1 (2-man crew) and before the opening tap, I see one player with tape on one ear lobe. She tells me it is covering an earring. I then see a small stud earring in the other ear that is not taped (this one is not on the ear lobe.) I tell her that she cannot play with earrings -- taped or not. I also told her that as a varsity player, she should know that she cannot play with earrings. The head coach is a dad...since Massachusetts does not allow varsity coaches to coach in the off-season. I tell him the situation and he has no problem with the ruling. The girl declines to remove the earrings (I did not tell her to do that...I only told her that she could not play with them.)

We get a substitute for the player and a couple of minutes later the tournament director approaches me. She said that this is an "informal summer tournament" and I should not be so rigid about the rule. I tell her...in clear, unambiguous words...that this rule is a safety and liability issue. She said that she will allow the player to participate if the earrings are taped and she will accept liability. I tell her that I want a written waiver and from her and the girl's parent and she agrees.

The player later enters the game, with both earrings taped. The game proceeds without incident and I have not heard from any lawyers yet. That night I get a call from the tournament assignor, who officiated several games. He said he had an "earring incident" in one of his late games (girl playing with tape over earrings; not discovered until very late in game; he tells girl she cannot play with earring; girl, coach and parents say she has played all day like that and no other official said anything.)

Now...when I told the girl in my game that she could not participate, my partner said, out loud, that it was fine as long as they were taped. I pulled him aside and told him "absolutely not. We are not going to waive this rule." He had the same attitude as the tournament director: "It is only summer ball. It is no big deal. Let's get the game going." To be fair, after I spoke with him later and after he thought about it, he changed his mind. He said he is an "old timer" who doesn't worry about these things, but upon reflection, he agreed that I was correct in insisting that she not play with the earrings.

When I described this to another official today, he said, "Tape them. Let's play. It's only summer."

So...back to my original query. If it is a summer tournament...not played under any the sanction of the MIAA or any other formal organization (but using NFHS rules), can the tournament director decree "taped earrings are OK"? Should I insist on a written waiver in advance? Am I being ridiculously overcautious? And lastly...what is with these girl athletes? Why don't they just leave the earrings at home or in the car before a game...any game.